Annalisa Bianchessi

The Basics

Name

Annalisa Bianchessi

Region

Europe

My Conservation Work

Job Title

Pride Programme Manager

Employer

Rare

Direct Threats

Recreational Activities

Tourism and Recreation Areas

Conservation Discipline

Annalisa Bianchessi's Public Profile

About Me

Being half Italian and half Dutch, two countries with a strong connection to the sea, and having grown up in Luxembourg, where there is no sea, I have always been fascinated by the marine environment. Whilst I have been lucky enough to spend considerable time at sea (some of it studying dolphins) I am yet to really discover the underwater world. So one of my goals for 2008 is to learn how to scuba dive.

I Knew I was a Conservationist When....

I volunteered on a turtle research project on Kephallonia in Greece. The project was trying to show that, after hatching, young turtles look for the brightest horizon to find the sea. We spent night after night monitoring turtle nesting and nest hatching. It was a wonderful experience to witness these small creatures emerge from the sand and head to the sea. We would then take bearings of their route in relation to the moon and the water. One night a nest hatched in front of the then only hotel on the beach and some 80 hatchlings all headed for land. We ran to the hotel and asked them to turn off the light and shone a powerful torch onto the sea. One by one the little turtles turned around and headed for the water. It was an exhilarating spectacle. However in the morning, as we finished our shift, we noticed several structures at the back of the beach having mysteriously grown over night: whilst we were patrolled the beach to monitor the turtles at night, workers at the back of the beach were busy illegally building the hotels that were threatening the turtles’ existence. This experience as well as the rumor that the turtle project did “not care about Greek children, only about the turtles” is what made me go into conservation, and later into the social marketing of conservation.

 

My Contributions

audio

Inabanga campaign jingle

Posted by abianchessi in Campaign for Sustainable Fishing - Inabanga LGU, Hambongan Marine Sanctuary and Inabanga Triangle on 2012-02-13
Campaign Blog

Bohol: Rare Pride Campaign launched for Inabanga's Hambongan Island Marine Sanctuary

Posting a few great blog from last October on the campaign launch in Inabanga.

Lasting change must be community led. That is the rationale behind the environmental conservation programs of Rare, a US-based conservation organization that works globally to equip people in the world's most threatened areas with the tools and motivation they need to care for their natural resources.
Last week, we were invited to join the team from Rare on Hambongan Island as they launched the Inabanga Rare Pride Campaign together with the people of Inabanga, Bohol.

 

http://www.ivanhenares.com/2011/11/bohol-rare-pride-campaign-launched-for.html

Posted by abianchessi in Campaign for Sustainable Fishing - Inabanga LGU, Hambongan Marine Sanctuary and Inabanga Triangle on 2012-01-31
Campaign Blog

Hambongan Island – Discovering a RARE Path

As a travel blogger, one of the things you dream about is discovering a new destination that is off the beaten track and either hasn’t been written about or has been written about so little that you just might get credited with the ‘discovery’. Like the ancient explorers, we want to be the first- but there is of course a downside. Telling the world about a destination can change or even destroy it.When you find a place that is beautiful – whether you are the first or any that come after, you have a responsibility to help preserve and protect it so that you are not the last to see it. Nothing could be so sad as to see the last of a species, the last sight of a beautiful place or the end of a beautiful ecosystem.It’s for this reason that the RARE Conservation Fellows (CF) have become so important to the protection and preservation of both flora and fauna in delicate ecological areas.

Posted by abianchessi in Campaign for Sustainable Fishing - Inabanga LGU, Hambongan Marine Sanctuary and Inabanga Triangle on 2012-01-31
Campaign Blog

Saving Meloy – Hambongan Islands RARE Pride Campaign

Like Saving Nemo, the Disney film with a lovable clown fish – Meloy is the mascot of the Hambongan Island RARE Pride Campaign. He is a Phanter Grouper – a fish that belongs to a vulnerable group of species that lives in the local reefs. The fish are used for food and are popular with those who are aquarium hobbyists. As a result, the numbers of Phanter Grouper have gone down dramatically.

Meloy was chosen because he is a signature fish of the region and I have to admit, for a fish, he is very cute. Since 1997, Inabanga has been working with fish wardens, coastal police, and barangay tanods to build 23.85 hectares of marine sanctuaries in Hambongan and Cuaming. In addition, 43 hectares of sea grass sanctuary and 303 hectares of mangrove reforestation.

Posted by abianchessi in Campaign for Sustainable Fishing - Inabanga LGU, Hambongan Marine Sanctuary and Inabanga Triangle on 2012-01-31
other

Mini-market test: presentation, guidelines and check-list

Posted by abianchessi in Rare Program for Sustainable Fishing in the Philippines (PEP2) on 2011-10-31